SPICE Exclusive: The Birth of Ifan Ifeanyi Michael’s ‘Lotanna’

Posted On 07 Apr 2017 / 0 Comment

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Fashion film is one of the new genres in film, a blend between fashion and film, a cinematographer and fashion designers stylized project in bringing the designers vision for his fashion collection to life through the art of film, by successfully communicating the designer’s ideas to his audience. Having full creative freedom to experiment and express themselves to the fullest. It has been estimated by technology company Cisco that by the year 2019, online videos will account for 80 percent of all consumer internet traffic. Proper feature films like, the devil wears Prada, Tom Ford’s first directorial movie; A single man are a perfect example of the beautiful union between fashion and storytelling. Top designers like Prada, Dior Channel and Kate spade, in recent times have in-cooperated this not so new trend in their fashion tales.

Ifan Ifeanyi Michael is one versatile man. From serving us fashion savvy looks on both himself and designated clients. Recently went into magazine publishing, it is safe to say that everything Ifan puts his hands on turns to gold. It is the beginning of the last month in the first quarter of the year, and what best way to celebrate it, than countdown to the première of Lotanna. This time, Ifan is about to serve us a nostalgic tale filled with scenes that will make you want to relieve the past, even if you weren’t born then. We spoke to him about this amazing movie that is proposed to premier on the 8th of April 2017 and he provided us with the truth behind what it took to bring what was once an idea to life.

Like every other fashion influencer who has embraced the fashion film genre, we were itching to know what made him shy away from the traditional look-book method of telling a fashion story. And if he thinks he successfully interpreted his vision through this film? His response was that;

“Everyone can’t keep swimming in the same direction; I wanted to do something different, a classy touch of ingredients to my creativity. With Lotanna, I think I did an amazing job; I would be selfish here for bragging about the excellent result of the movie, because, of course, I had a resilient team behind me.”

The birth of every great work starts with an inspiration, and with Ifeanyi; his inspiration was the structure of the story since conception, his vivid picture of the setting, and how he was careful not to alter it, because of how intricate it was to telling the story.

We were curious to know how he had to compromise as an African designer before he had his final breakthrough in the movie industry. Ifeanyi’s response was that;

“You can’t cut out the nature or the norms of any society totally; you can only infuse your own ideology to make a meaningful result. I knew movie will be the end as fashion is a means to end. “

As regards his goals set for this project and the thought process behind the execution, Ifeanyi believes that;

“Unlike every other task he embarks on, as an entrepreneur, he knew he was never going to catch a whale in a fish pond, so he had to dream that big dream once again. You know, the bigger picture is like a revelation of what is to come of him in the future and the future is already here. “

To create a film takes a lot of planning and trajectory to birth an amazing movie, let alone one with a double dose of the world’s favourites things (fashion and film).

Lastly, we asked Ifeanyi How much concept and strategy it take to birth this project? And what kept him going through his down moments.

“He simply said measuring the level of creativity injected into this project was impossible. He further said, at some point he realised creativity is not enough. He came to realise the utmost need of energy, and drive to keep his team going. He was fortunate enough to have a team that understood where they were sailing and they eventually arrived at the designated shore. He went on to express his pleasures towards the storyline, as it wasn’t made a dwarf by cutting and shredding the important part of the story, no constraints was able to swallow our efforts. We did an amazing job with Lotanna”

The premiere is scheduled to take place on the 8th of April 2017 from 5pm at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island Lagos.